Neville to the rescue
by koso26
Summary: Entry for Healer Pomfrey's summer writing challenge. Snape gets sick while checking on his students. Neville takes care of him. A little OOC. sick!Severus


_I wrote this story for Healer Pomfrey's summer writing challenge._

_Warnings: Neville and Snape are a little OOC  
_

_Disclaimer: I own none of the characters and just loved borrowing them to carefully play with them before safely putting them back._

_I'm not a native speeker, so please excuse my mistakes._

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**Neville to the rescue**

Severus took the parchment out of his robe pocket, crossed out Seamus Finnigan's name and looked at it with a sight. Only two names were left: Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom. He just didn't want to visit neither of them. He was tired and sore. Especially his head, eyes and throat hurt badly. He had been visiting students since early in the morning. The day after the students had left for their summer break, Hagrid and Sybill had come down with the dragon measles, a very rare magical disease which was very dangerous when not detected and treated in the early state.

Right after Poppy had diagnosed Hagrid and Sybill, the Headmaster had collected all Hogwarts teachers for an urgent staff meeting. First Poppy had checked on everybody. Nobody else had contracted the virus and everybody had to take a potion to prevent infection. Then the headmaster had assigned tasks to his staff. Seven teachers had been chosen to check on all the students. Severus was still somewhat furious. Not only had he been chosen to be one of the seven teachers, but also had the headmaster assigned the first years to him. Why on earth the first years. Why couldn't the headmaster assign the second, third, …whatever years to him?! But no, he got the first years; the dunderheads Potter and Longbottom, the know-it-all Granger and all the Weasleys. Since Weasleys belonged to different years it would not make sense that they would be visited by all the assigned teachers, but why him? Why couldn't Minerva, who was assigned to check on the class of the Weasley twins, check on the Weasleys. But the headmaster insisted that he checked on them and to not worsen the headache that had already been plaguing him, he had eventually grudgingly obeyed.

It had been a long day so far. But luckily only one of the students, a girl from Hufflepuff had contracted the virus even if she did not show any symptoms yet. He had taken her back to Hogwarts so Poppy could help her. All the other students had received potions to prevent them from contracting the virus.

Now Severus was standing at the apparation point pondering which of the two remaining first years he should visit first and decided to tend to Harry Potter first. So he apparated to Little Whinging and briskly walked to Privet Drive Number 4. He rang the bell and waited, but nothing happened. He rang the bell again and when nothing happened again, he carefully waved his wand at the door and entered the house. He searched every room, but nobody was at home. He found signs indicating that the Dursleys had left for vacation. Severus was confused. If Harry had left Little Whinging the headmaster would know and he would not have sent Severus to the Dursleys' home.

Severus decided to go and see Arabella Figg. Maybe she knew more. With quick steps Severus strode over to her house and knocked. He was more than surprised when the door was answered by a very confused Neville Longbottom. Without a word he walked past the now terrified student into the house closing the door behind him with a bang.

"Mr. Longbottom, will you please explain yourself!" Severus commanded.

"I…I…my...Mrs. Figg…" was all Neville could stutter before his professor interrupted him.

"Pull yourself together! Why are you here and where is Mrs. Figg?"

"I…my…I…." He looked just lost and about to faint.

"Now, Mr. Longbottom!"

Neville tried to focus as good as possible and was finally able to answer Snape's questions. "My grandma broke her leg and asked me to get her friend Mrs. Figg to help her. So I flooed here. Mrs. Figg asked me to keep Harry company until she was back…"

Severus interrupted him. "Mr. Potter is here? Why and where?"

"Harry is upstairs in bed. He is sick and…"

Severus rushed upstairs, a puzzled Neville following him. He stormed into the room in which Harry was sleeping. He stopped right next to bed and waved his wand over the boy which was just waking up from all the noise. Sighting in relief Severus noticed that Harry just had strep throat. And not even the magical but only the muggle version. He remembered that two other students he had visited earlier had it too. He made a mental note to inform Poppy about it. There was probably an outbreak at Hogwarts a few days ago.

Harry blinked a few times before he addressed his professor with a small hoarse and still sleepy voice. "P'fessor what you d'in here?"

"What I'm doing here?" Severus sneered. "The more important question is, what are you doing here?"

"My relatives went on vacation and left me with Mrs. Figg…"

Severus turned to Neville who was quietly standing next to them. "When will Mrs. Figg be back?"

Neville shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. She said she would be back in a few minutes…but that was several hours ago."

Severus raised an eyebrow at Neville. "And you did nothing else than just wait? Why didn't you call her through the floo and see if something was wrong?" he scolded.

Neville tried to straighten up in front of his professor, but failed. "I tried to, but there is something wrong with the floo…"

Severus pushed Neville aside and strode downstairs into the living room. Trying to use the floo he noticed that something must have happened with the chimney. It looked like nobody could floo neither in nor out.

Severus went back upstairs to find the two boys looking at him with large, slightly scared eyes. He explained to them, why he was here and what he just discovered concerning the floo. While he checked on Neville and Harry and gave them the potions he wondered what he should do. 'I can't leave them here on their own…' he mused. 'Maybe I should take them to Poppy. Who knows when Mrs. Figg will be back?' When he took the empty potions vials back he tried to throw them a menacing glare, but failed awfully to do so. All the sudden it seemed that the world was spinning around him and then everything went black.

When he opened his eyes again he was lying on a soft bed with a cool cloth on his forehead, a soft pillow underneath his head and his legs being raised on a stack of folded blankets. 'Mrs. Figg seems to be back…' he mused as he was sure it must have been her to get him in this position. But when he slowly opened his eyes he only found Neville standing next to the bed. He carefully swung his body around to sit on the edge of the bed. He was surprised when all the sudden Neville spoke up.

"Easy professor…you should better lie back down. You just fainted without a warning and had been out for about fifteen minutes."

Severus just raised an eyebrow at him. This took about all the energy he could muster right now. He tried to do a mental check on himself and his symptoms. His head had hurt all day and still did; now even worse than before. His throat was awfully sore; swallowing was extremely painful. And since his head seemed to be swimming while he felt hot and cold he was sure he was running more than a slightly increased temperature. Finally he addressed Neville and sneered "I was checking an all the first year dunderheads all day long. If you'll excuse me now, I'll return to Hogwarts! I'll send someone to take care of you and Mr. Potter until the floo works again." When he tried to stand up he swayed and felt that Neville pushed him pack down on the bed. Before he could protest or continue sneering, Neville anxiously spoke up again. "Professor, you are in no condition to get up, let alone apparate back to Hogwarts! You are burning up! I'm pretty sure you are running quite a fever! Do you have any idea what's ailing you?"

Too exhausted to argue and all the sudden feeling awfully ill, Severus let himself sink back into the pillows. "It is probably just a headcold or the flu. I know for sure that it is not the dragon measles…"

"Besides the obvious fever, what are your symptoms?" Neville asked anxiously. He wasn't sure how his most hated teacher would react on him asking such personal questions…

Severus was lying on the soft pillows, eyes closed and hissed at Neville. "I'm sure this is none of your business!"

"I didn't mean to be nosy or importunate…" Neville said in an apologetic voice and continued almost inaudible "I just want to help you….!"

Severus decided not to show any reaction on what he just had heard. Hissing and sneering at Neville hat hurt his throat really bad. 'If I ignore Longbottom, maybe he'll go away and leave me alone…!' Severus mused.

"Try to sleep for a while. Maybe you'll feel better afterwards." Neville suggested. When he heard a soft coughing from Harry he continued "If you need anything I'll be next door with Harry." And when Severus Snape did not stir he quietly left the room.

--

Severus woke up with a jolt feeling an icy cold hand on his forehead. He noticed Neville Longbottom sitting on the edge of his bed. But he felt way too awful to even care about this annoying situation. He just felt outright ill.

"Professor, do you mind if I take your temperature? It seems like your fever went up significantly…" Neville addressed his professor.

'He sounds worried…' Severus mused and decided to not show any reaction.

Neville held out a thermometer and softly asked "Can you please open up?"

Severus obeyed grudgingly. But he definitely, too, wanted to know how high his fever was. He didn't have to wait long as the thermometer beeped just a few seconds later and Neville announced "104°F (40°C)". Severus groaned inwardly. 'How could I get this ill so fast? And why does Longbottom even care? And why Longbottom…?'

Severus was about to fall asleep again, when Neville spoke up again in a soft voice. "I know you're not feeling well and using Magic will probably only make it worse, but could you please try to change your clothes into pajamas? I'm pretty sure you got yourself strep throat from one of the students. We should try to get your temperature down."

Severus just nodded, and waved his wand over himself. While Neville tucked him in Severus tried to figure out, why eventually something Neville Longbottom said would make sense…

Neville disappeared from the room only to come back a few minutes later with towels and a bucket of cold water. He swung the blanked back from Snapes feet, wet the towels and wrapped them around the professor's calves. While he did so he softly explained to his professor that the calf packing is supposed to bring the fever down. Severus just nodded. He had heard about them and wondered why Longbottom knew about them. After wrapping dry towels around the wet ones Neville put the blanket back and left the room again. When he came back, he carried a small tray with several things on it and set it down on the night table before he renewed the calf packing. When Snape was tucked in again, Neville put a warm compress around his sore throat. 'This feels nice' Severus mused.

Neville handed him a cup with steaming tea. "It's sage tea. It will help your throat. The wrap will too." Then he showed the professor a glass with salt water and a small bowl that were still sitting on the night table. "You should gargle with the salt water. You can spit it in the bowl. Don't worry; I'll leave you alone for it!"

Before Snape could say or do anything Neville had disappeared from the room. Snape gratefully took the glass and the bowl and started gargling. 'I wonder why Longbottom knows about all this. He seems exactly to know what is best. He just seems to be…adept…' That thought took a while to sink in and Severus felt slightly uncomfortable with it. When he was done gargling he took the tea and took small sips of the hot soothing liquid. It just felt good against his throat. Only seconds after setting the now empty cup aside he drifted into a peaceful sleep. He didn't even notice when Neville came back and removed the calf packing and the throat compress.

--

Severus woke up again to the sensation of feeling a cold hand pressed on his forehead. "Good morning Professor Snape. I hope you slept well!" Neville greeted as Snape opened his eyes.

'Morning?' Severus mused and croaked a questioning "Morning?"

"It's short after ten. You slept like a stone the entire night!" Neville offered as an answer. The he held out the thermometer again "Can you please open up again? I hope your temperature went down a little!"

Still puzzled about the fact that it was already morning he obeyed wordlessly and took the thermometer in. Neville removed it again a few seconds later when it beeped and read with a little relief in his voice a "102.5°F (39,2°C)"

"I got you some more tea." Neville pointed at the cup on the nightstand. "And maybe you want to gargle again. I could also make you another throat compress if you want…" he offered to the professor.

"I would appreciate another compress very much." Snape croaked. And Neville left right away to get it.

--

The next two days passed pretty uneventful. Neville took good care of Harry and Snape. He took their temperatures, used calf packing when the fever went up too much, adjusted compresses around their throats, cooked and served sage tea, had them gargle and made sure they rested whenever possible. He only allowed them out of bed to use the bathroom.

On the third day Harry felt much better and so did Severus. Their temperatures had come down nicely, but they were still running a fever. When Neville brought Severus another cup of tea, Severus noticed that Neville was shivering. He ordered the boy to sit down and pried the thermometer under his tongue. Severus was not surprised to read a 103°F (39,5°C) on the display. Just the moment he tried to get up to get the boy to bed the door opened and Arabella Figg entered the room.

"Hello Professor Snape, hello Neville!" she greeted the two of them. "I just heard from Harry what happened! I'm incredibly sorry that I couldn't be here to help. There was a major problem with the floo and the Ministry of Magic just now got it fixed. Neville you can return to your grandma now…"

"I don't think so!" Severus threw in. "Neville seems to have caught the strep throat, too. He needs to get to bed. Do you think you could floo-call Madam Pomfrey at Hogwarts and ask her if she could come over?"

"Sure! But let me get Neville to bed first…" With these words Arabella wrapped her arm around Neville's shoulders and led him out of the room.

Just a few minutes later Madam Pomfrey stepped out of Arabella Figg's fireplace. Arabella filled her in about what had happened and Poppy decided to take Neville and Harry as well as Snape with her to the infirmary to make sure they got the care they needed to get better and not to spread the strep throat any further. This way Arabella Figg could go back to Mrs. Longbottom until Neville was back to full health. Everybody agreed to this solution, even if the agreement came very grudgingly (especially from Severus Snape) and not even half an hour later Poppy carefully tucked her three patients in into three crisp white beds in the infirmary.

When she tucked Severus in she started talking to him. "I heard Mr. Longbottom took good care of you!"

"I have to admit, he seemed to know what he did! He seemed almost…adept!"

"You should tell him, I'm pretty sure it would mean a lot to him to hear these words from you!"

"I don't think that would be wise. But I wonder how he knew what to do…"

"Don't you know?"

"Know what?"

"He's very adept in Herbology and very interested in how they are used in medicine. He thinks about becoming a healer…"

"I had no idea. But he did not behave like the usual dunderhead in the last few days. Looks like he found the perfect perspective for his future. He was very good with what he did!"

"I know Severus, and I hope he knows too…"

Unbeknownst to Snape and Pomfrey Neville had by chance overheard their conversation. Now he knew. And even if Snape would never admit it to him, he thought of him as adept. With a huge smile playing on his lips Neville sank into a much needed sleep.

**The End**


End file.
